Seems most of the good offers these days come in the form of points, albeit with enormous spend requirements ($4000 over 3 months for 50k points with CSP). Nothing really earth shattering with the cash back cards. My next card acquisitions will more than likely be for points cards between CSP, EDP and maybe PRG. I suppose I could use a backup MasterCard to have all the card networks, but I have yet to find a MC that's worthy of it. Barclay Ring comes closest even though it has zero in the way of rewards. Double Cash seems like too much of a hassle, and I've had bad experiences with Citi in the past.

JonE wrote:Seems most of the good offers these days come in the form of points, albeit with enormous spend requirements ($4000 over 3 months for 50k points with CSP). Nothing really earth shattering with the cash back cards. My next card acquisitions will more than likely be for points cards between CSP, EDP and maybe PRG. I suppose I could use a backup MasterCard to have all the card networks, but I have yet to find a MC that's worthy of it. Barclay Ring comes closest even though it has zero in the way of rewards. Double Cash seems like too much of a hassle, and I've had bad experiences with Citi in the past.

Got two mail offers for the 50k points with the CSP in the same week, into the trash they went as I don't really have an interest in points cards.

$4000 in 3 months can be a lot for just pure CC spend but my view is the sign up bonus gives a picture on what they hope you will spend on the card on avg during the time period they list like 90 days. If one can't spend the bonus spend I think it's likely not the right card for them.

JonE wrote:Seems most of the good offers these days come in the form of points, albeit with enormous spend requirements ($4000 over 3 months for 50k points with CSP). Nothing really earth shattering with the cash back cards. My next card acquisitions will more than likely be for points cards between CSP, EDP and maybe PRG. I suppose I could use a backup MasterCard to have all the card networks, but I have yet to find a MC that's worthy of it. Barclay Ring comes closest even though it has zero in the way of rewards. Double Cash seems like too much of a hassle, and I've had bad experiences with Citi in the past.

Got two mail offers for the 50k points with the CSP in the same week, into the trash they went as I don't really have an interest in points cards.

$4000 in 3 months can be a lot for just pure CC spend but my view is the sign up bonus gives a picture on what they hope you will spend on the card on avg during the time period they list like 90 days. If one can't spend the bonus spend I think it's likely not the right card for them.

This, x1000. I see so many people sign up for CSP and then go "omg, how am I going to meet the bonus spend?" Chances are if that spend is outlandish to you, you won't be able to justify the card long term. Doesn't seem like rocket science, yet happens every day!

I'll still use EDP for groceries, Discover for gas, and I'll continue to use Hyatt for miscellaneous tax-deductible stuff. Other than that, everything will go on AA Platinum until I hit minimum spend. I even got some Costco Cash with it.

$4k for CSP may seem to be a lot, but it's easy to get expedited shipping on it so you get almost the full 90 days. Barclaycard and Citi tend to take longer, so a bad-but-plausible shipping delay for AA Platinum or Arrival+ might give someone about 70 days to spend $3k.

IHG and Hyatt only require $1k spend.

The best offers will come as travel points. CC companies can buy points very cheaply from hotels and airlines, so can afford to give them out like candy.

IHG has announced changes to award night point prices that will go into effect in a few weeks. Some prices are falling, but a lot of the nicer properties (including most ICs and everything in NYC) are going up in price...several to 60k (up from 50k). They're going from 9 regular award categories to 11.

I'm irritated, but the rewards program (and the Chase card) still make a lot of sense for me. I'm not aware of any changes to the card terms - just the purchasing power of points. It got me thinking about devaluations in general, and strategies for dealing with them. So what to do when a card or rewards program go bad?

Some people like to have cards to fall back on - especially cash back with no AF. If EDP or MRs get nerfed, I still have Sallie Mae (for now, at least). There's no big signup bonus, but there's also no hassle of getting a new card.

Other people just like to close accounts whenever they're not in regular use and push on. Moving on to greener pastures involves a little more risk for future approvals (in the form of lower AAoA and a lot of new accounts) but new bonuses can mean a lot more in rewards. Bonuses are so big that earn rates don't really matter in comparison.

Since I'm still technically in rebuild mode, I'll likely keep everything around and just SD a few cards. Maybe when the score hits the 700s I'll have some luck with Synchrony CLIs which will make it worthwhile to keep those around. As I stated on MYFico, I don't think 4 revolvers, 1 charge, and 2-3 useful store cards would be the worst thing in the world.

JonE wrote:Since I'm still technically in rebuild mode, I'll likely keep everything around and just SD a few cards. Maybe when the score hits the 700s I'll have some luck with Synchrony CLIs which will make it worthwhile to keep those around. As I stated on MYFico, I don't think 4 revolvers, 1 charge, and 2-3 useful store cards would be the worst thing in the world.

I don't think that's an absurd amount or anything. It all comes down to what you want to manage, and anything under 10 should be reasonable (in my view).

CarefulBuilder14 wrote:IHG has announced changes to award night point prices that will go into effect in a few weeks. Some prices are falling, but a lot of the nicer properties (including most ICs and everything in NYC) are going up in price...several to 60k (up from 50k). They're going from 9 regular award categories to 11.

I'm irritated, but the rewards program (and the Chase card) still make a lot of sense for me. I'm not aware of any changes to the card terms - just the purchasing power of points. It got me thinking about devaluations in general, and strategies for dealing with them. So what to do when a card or rewards program go bad?

Some people like to have cards to fall back on - especially cash back with no AF. If EDP or MRs get nerfed, I still have Sallie Mae (for now, at least). There's no big signup bonus, but there's also no hassle of getting a new card.

Other people just like to close accounts whenever they're not in regular use and push on. Moving on to greener pastures involves a little more risk for future approvals (in the form of lower AAoA and a lot of new accounts) but new bonuses can mean a lot more in rewards. Bonuses are so big that earn rates don't really matter in comparison.

I'm still mostly following the first approach.

I think the best thing to do is to have a solid cash back card or two to fall back on, since travel programs are frequently changed and usually not in a positive way.

I got the CSP and the Marriott last year knowing I was taking a trip and would be able to meet the spend on both. It's paid off for me as I've been able to use the Marriott points a couple of times and the CSP for airfare this year. Long term though I'm not so sure I will spend enough on the CSP to warrant the annual fee so that's a decision for the future. I only started looking at rewards cards last year so I'm not very well versed on maximizing them.

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